Pod Point powers up pizza EV rollout

London-based electric vehicle (EV) charge point infrastructure specialist Pod Point has secured a major new export deal, having inked an agreement to install charge points for Scandinavia's largest pizza chain.

As a growing number of takeaway delivery firms worldwide explore the use of electric cars and bikes, Norway's Peppes Pizza has revealed plan to electrify its 120-strong fleet.

Pod Point announced last week that it has been appointed to install charge points at all Peppes Pizza owned outlets and has been named as the recommended supplier for the company's 42 franchisees.

Pod Point said that under the deal it will provide Peppes Pizza, which is owned by the Umoe Restaurants Group, with a fully managed service, including initial consultation and site surveys through to installation and maintenance.

Meanwhile, its Smart Reporting platform will enable Peppes Pizza to monitor its carbon dioxide savings against its sustainability targets.

The savings are expected to be considerable given the company delivers 11,000 pizzas a day across Norway, clocking up to a total of 2,200,000 kilometres a year.

The first installations were completed last summer and the full roll out is now scheduled to be completed over the next three years.

Pod Point said the deal was part of its wider expansion plans into a Norwegian market that has emerged as Europe's leading adopter of EVs - last year nearly a third of all new cars sold in Norway were plug-in models. The company said that while it was "an established homecharge provider in Norway, diversifying into commercial charging is a strategic priority".

"Now EVs have the range required to meet the needs of our drivers, it's time to make the switch," said Ingrid Opsal of Peppes Pizza. "It's fair to say the whole team is very excited about this - sustainability is a big focus for Peppes Pizza and we see this as huge progress towards our goals. As this is such as large scale installation, it's reassuring to work with a full service provider like Pod Point, which can take care of everything and minimise the workload for our team."

Erik Fairbairn, CEO and Founder of Pod Point, said Norway was "well and truly ahead of the curve when it comes to EVs".

"Helping Peppes Pizza to electrify its entire fleet is a significant milestone, which we look forward to UK businesses replicating in the near future," he added. "We've learned a lot from Norway's approach to EVs and we're delighted to see demand for a fully managed service."

The company also revealed that in order to further support its Norway expansion plans it is developing Norwegian language versions of its website and app, which are scheduled to be launched next year.